Yue's Pet
by Rosabell
Summary: One year after events in Shadowdance, Syaoran visits Tomoeda with Chul for a fun day filled traumatizing Yue by creating things out of cardboard and a magical stuffed pink chicken. Yamazaki, Tomoyo, and Sakura join in the fun. R&R!


Yue's Pet

Syaoran was bringing Eriol and company to their house, so Sakura started the day off vacuuming while Touya cooked. They actually had no idea when Syaoran was coming. His mode of transportation was always instantaneous, so he was rather flexible about that. Yamazaki was scheduled to arrive at around ten, which gives Sakura about half an hour to vacuum the house before the boy arrives with Tomoyo.

Yue was already there, standing to the side. Sakura had a feeling Yue missed Syaoran. He always made a point of greeting Syaoran in person instead of through Yukito, which no doubt the boy appreciated, if his beaming smile was any indication. It was still a little strange to see Syaoran smile. It was almost as if he was happier with Chul than he was with his own family, but Sakura knew it was probably only because Syaoran now saw things with a new perspective.

Of course, as Eriol pointed out, being a thunderspeaker had many perks.

A mist sailed through the door, materializing into Chul.

" Ohayo," He greeted. " Where is Xiaolang?"

" Still in England, I think." Touya replied from the kitchen. " He'll be fine. Not like anything can intercept light in time."

" I wonder why he's bothering Eriol." Chul headed into the kitchen. " He didn't call?"

" Iie. He didn't tell you why?" Touya asked. Chul handed him the salt. " Arigatou."

" Iie. I have a feeling that this is going to be bad."

" Is he in trouble?" Sakura asked.

" Oh no." Chul shook his head. " It's just, his aura's been getting more and more strange. It feels like he's up to something."

" Oh, that kind of bad." Touya snickered. " Like when the kaijuu tried to smear my face with shaving cream."

" Oni-chan!!"

" Isn't Eriol a little old for these kinds of things?" Chul remarked. " I know he looks like a twelve-year-old, but wasn't he supposed to be older?"

" You tell me. That idea still creeps me out. And he looks like mini-Otou-san. That's even creepier, actually."

" How is Eriol coming by?" Chul asked. " Is Xiaolang going to bring him here?"

" Don't know. Think so." Sakura answered. " I'm turning on the vacuum again!" She warned. She pushed the button and started the machine.

" How is college?!" Chul yelled over the noise.

" Boring as hell!" Touya yelled back. " Nobody does anything but get drunk!"

" You should have gone to America!"

" Hell no!"

" China would have been good too! Either way you should have chosen a place where you work your butt off!"

" I don't want to just work my butt off! I want to have fun without getting intoxicated!"

" Dude, the whole point of college is to safely get intoxicated without worrying about your salary deduction!"

" That's boring!"

" How the blazes are you bored? You have an angel for a boyfriend! Doesn't he take you out on dates?"

" You're an inconsiderate jerk! No wonder the kid likes you!"

Sakura looked up at Yue, feeling really awkward. Yue had a strange hint of expression on his face, one that could not decide between laughing or blushing.

The elemental and Touya said a few more things that at this point Sakura did not dare listen to, focusing on the humming of the vacuum and getting those stubborn chunks out of the carpet.

The doorbell rang. Sakura finished up the last bit and left the vacuum to open the door. Yamazaki and Tomoyo came in.

" Ohayo!" Tomoyo greeted, waving at Yue, who only looked at her. He still seemed to be struggling over what Chul and Touya were talking about. Yamazaki slipped past Sakura, holding two very large and what seemed to be pretty heavy bags.

" What did you bring, Takashi-kun?" Sakura asked.

" I've got toilet paper rolls, cardboard, felt, uh...paper clips...toothpicks, a bunch of other things."

" Why do you have all those?" Sakura asked.

" We're doing an experiment."

" We?"

" Syaoran-san and I."

" What experiment."

" Well," Yamazaki gave Yue a weird look. Yue's expression did not really change, but his eyes betrayed his curiosity and not a bit of anxiety at that motion.

" Done!" Touya turned off the flame on the stove. He came out, taking off his apron. " Ohayo, folks."

" He's coming." Chul warned. Just as he spoke, a flash appeared. Syaoran materialized with Nakuru and Spinel while Eriol stumbled a little and crashed onto the sofa.

" Hey, that's funny." Touya commented. " Little descendant throws his ancestor around. And the great Clow Reed too."

" I'm not Clow Reed. And ow, what was that?" Eriol looked up and glared at Syaoran. " And how come _they _didn't crash into things?" Nakuru and Spinel backed away slightly.

" Hehe," Syaoran grinned sheepishly. " That _was funny, _heh, but, uh, I don't know. I haven't gotten the transport people along with me thing quite down yet."

" I'll attest to that." Chul replied dryly. His expression spoke of torturous hours training with his charge. Syaoran blushed.

" Gomen nasai."

" I got the stuff." Yamazaki held the toilet rolls up.

" What the..." Eriol stared. " What did you bring me to Japan for?"

" Well, we kind of figured," Yamazaki told him cheerfully, " Since Syaoran-san has this electricity thing going on, and you know lightning could create life as well as destroy it, and since you've got Yue and Kero and Spinel and Nakuru over there, we should try to use Syaoran-san's lightning thing to create something, you know? Give something life."

A long silence descended.

_" That's _what you brought me here for?"

" Hai!" Syaoran gave Eriol a thumbs up, something that would have freaked Sakura out two years ago. " And we figured since you have Clow's memories you could help me figure out how to do that."

" If you're going to create..." But the boys were already taping the rolls together. Eriol blinked with some disbelief.

Yue looked almost horrified. Nakuru, Kero, and Spinel might have felt the same, except the other three guardians were laughing too hard to really be upset.

" Hey, I'm actually interested." Touya threw the apron on a random chair. " Though your artistic skills are severely lacking."

" Hey, it was the best we could come up with." Yamazaki protested. " It took several weeks of saving toilet paper rolls, mind you. And I had to do it without telling my parents what it was for."

" What exactly are you doing?" Eriol asked, as the boys took out the scissors and began snipping.

" Cool." Tomoyo chirped unhelpfully. " Maybe I can make it a costume if it works."

" See, that's the head," Yamazaki took out a rubber band ball, " It actually took me a few days to figure out how to make this thing."

" We should probably stuff the rolls."

" I have cotton."

Touya headed over to Yue and snickered. " I'm so glad Clow Reed took better care while designing you."

Yue continued staring at the boys.

" There." Syaoran lifted the thing up. " Roughly done, but oh well!"

Eriol was finally starting to get amused. " Roughly done" was hardly enough to describe whatever it was that the two boys made. With a rubber band ball for a head, without any other features, toilet paper rolls stuffed with cotton and roughly taped together, it looked like some sort of stick figure that was close to falling apart. Unintentionally he tossed a look at Yue and the other guardians.

" That thing looks ridiculous!" Kero hovered over. " What the heck is that?"

" We don't know. We just want to try Syaoran-san's powers out."

" That doesn't even make sense!" The guardian hovered into the air. " And we weren't created out of toilet paper rolls!" Kero actually looked a bit offended.

" So Clow Reed had better artistic skills. Come on, he was a forty-year-old magician or something. We're only twelve." Yamazaki insisted. " Plus, he must have been rich. We're not."

" Guys," Chul cut in. He started sniggering, which did not comfort the guardians, " Guys, I, hehe, I think that if you're going to use Xiaolang's thunder ability, you have to look more to the sciences than to magic. I mean, hehe, you have to have all the basics, you know, proteins, carbohydrates, water, hai?"

" So what do we do with this thing?" Syaoran lifted it up.

Touya was holding on to his stomach. " Maybe you should try something, you know, closer to what actually is. Like, start off with water, and put things in, hehe."

" I can't believe you want to make a being out of cardboard!" Kero whirled around in the air.

" Hey, it's not like we're going to give it a conscience or anything!" Syaoran tried to persuade the guardian. " We're just testing to see if I can create stuff. Besides, if all the elementals have fire demons and wind phoenixes and water dragons, I might have to eventually create a Light Lizard or something."

" Light Lizard?" Chul snorted.

" Can we eat first?" Eriol asked.

" Sure. And Eriol-san can tell us how he created the guardians out of thin air."

" We were not created out of thin air!...Were we?" Kero asked.

Eriol gave him a grin. " Come on. We're traumatizing Yue here."

" I am not traumatized." Even so, Yue looked gingerly at the cardboard figure.

" Come on!" Syaoran tugged at Yue's hand. Actually, Sakura was also much more comfortable with him, but it was the first time Eriol saw him do that to Yue so freely and the reincarnation of Clow made a very pleased expression.

It was an early lunch, but it was nice and slow and long. Syaoran talked about his Korean friends in Korea and the various type of magical people he met while helping Chul and Ritsuko.

" I stopped a conflict once," Syaoran laughed. " Actually, I kind of scared them into submission, but I didn't do it on purpose."

" If I find your power is going to your head I will smack you, thunderspeaker or not." Yamazaki warned.

" I'm counting on that. Assuming Sakura doesn't kill me first."

" You got that right." Sakura grinned.

" So how are things in Tomoeda?"

" You wouldn't know, would you, since you haven't visited."

" I was busy!" Syaoran scowled. " And I'm here now, aren't I?"

" Hai." Sakura smiled. " Things are going fine here, though everyone misses you."

" Haha." Syaoran laughed. " I bet they forgot me already."

They did, but Sakura did not want to agree with him. " Well, it does not really matter." Yamazaki cut in. " We certainly missed you. Come on, let's hurry up and finish. Sakura-san, maybe you can help us with your cards."

" Sure."

" Things are generally quiet." Chul told Eriol. " Not that many arguments and quarrels. It's a little scary. Xiaolang's just a kid."

" He seems happy enough."

" He's happy, yes, but I'm always afraid when someone decides he's not going to take the advice of a twelve-year-old. We've got to be realistic here. He's twelve years old. Thunderspeaker or not he's still going to have a hard time on the political ground."

" Well he has a lot to back him up." Touya pointed out. " Card Mistress for a girlfriend," He had a slightly bitter look on his face, but Chul could tell Touya was still fond enough of Syaoran not go begrudge him, " The great waterspeaker Park Chul for a guardian, Hiriingaziwa Eriol as an ancestor that he can throw around,"

" I resent that," Eriol commented, after swallowing some food,

" Even Yue-san's got his back. And Watanabe Ichiro, the former Thunderspeaker, "

" I just wish I could give him a normal life." Chul sighed. " He's doing well in school but I don't think he'll make it past high school."

" School's not everything when you're an elemental."

" True. He already knows more than anyone." Chul leaned back. " It's just...he doesn't have a normal life. Well he does, but it's not going to last too long. Soon magic will take over his life."

Eriol considered Chul for a moment. " Perhaps it's best that way." He said. " Xiaolang has always been trained heavily in the realm of magic. And qigong, but mostly in magic. And he was not normal to begin with. None of us are. Just because your life is normal does not mean it is happy. And ultimately, Syaoran's happiness is all that really matters in the end. He seems to be enjoying himself."

" No school." Touya muttered. " What I would give for that. The kid gets it, of all people."

" I'm also scared what he would do after, you know, everyone's gone." Chul confessed. " He loves Sakura deeply, but he is an elemental. And you know what that comes with."

" He might find other reasons for staying." Eriol looked at Chul.

" Perhaps. That's what I'm hoping for." Chul leaned back. " When you're the element it feels rather...constant and stagnant. You have no thoughts and no emotions. Sometimes you watch and you judge, but you don't feel happy. You don't feel sad. You don't feel. I can see why he was tempted before. I think he might be tempted again. It's why normally elementals don't associate with mortals."

Yue finally spoke. " What will you do if he decides to join the light?" The words came out a bit strange, but ironically in Syaoran's case they fit perfectly.

" I think I'll join the clouds." Chul replied. " Or the ocean. Xiaolang's my reason for living now. He was my salvation. If he decides to leave this society, I will leave with him."

" Come on!" Syaoran suddenly pulled Sakura up. " Eriol-san, hurry up!"

" What the...is it a custom to abuse your elders? I thought the Chinese Confucius was all about respecting your elders!"

" I'm not abusing you!" Syaoran protested. Eriol laughed.

" I'll be right there."

" You alright?" Touya asked Yue.

" I've just realized how much Clow Reed loved me."

" Hehe," Touya chuckled, " I'm glad too."

Nakuru and Spinel looked at each other.

" Guys, you might want to do a little research first. No amount of electricity is going to get that thing...moving." Chul called over.

" That's when we cheat." Syaoran proudly declared. " We have the Card Mistress. It doesn't have to make sense."

" How am I supposed to help?" Sakura asked.

" Just get your cards." Syaoran urged.

Sakura nodded and went upstairs.

" You kids are nuts." Chul remarked.

When Sakura came down she was also grinning. " What do we do?" She asked.

" Take out the Sweet Card."

" The _Sweet _Card??" Eriol remarked. " Why the Sweet Card?"

" Because. Sugar." Syaoran gave him a silly grin.

" Okay." Sakura released the baton. " What do I do with the Sweet Card?"

" Put it on the dog."

" That's not a dog." Touya shook his head. " I don't know _what _that was but that's not a dog."

Sakura did so anyway. The thing ballooned into a cake, coupled with multicolored frosting and chocolate sprinkles. Before anyone else in the room could react, Syaoran sent a bolt of lightning at it.

There was a loud explosion, followed by some smoke.

" He burned the cake." Eriol guessed. " Kero wouldn't be happy about this."

Suddenly Syaoran screamed. It was not one of those truly frightened screams. He sounded more like he was both spooked and delighted. Without warning Yue felt him dart behind him.

" It's alive!" Yamazaki laughed, but darted behind Chul as soon as the thing moved toward him. It wiggled like an amoeba, which made no sense to anyone whatsoever, but on the other hand there were no rules as to how it could move.

" Oh!" Sakura squeaked, darting behind Touya.

" How was that possible?" Eriol asked. " The thing does not even make sense."

" It's magic." Syaoran grinned. " Ah!" He yelled, pulling on Yue's robe. Yue stared at the cake with some trepidation.

" You've defied all laws of physics." Touya stepped forward. " And kids, it's just a cake!"

" It's freaky!" Sakura cried. " The cake is moving!"

" You decided to make it move!"

" Kill it!" Syaoran yelled. " Kill the cake!"

" You do it!" Yamazaki yelled.

" Iie, you do it!"

" It's your fault!"

" I can't kill the thing! Let Sakura do it!"

" I'm not going to kill it!"

" Syaoran-san it's your job!" Yamazaki circled around Chul. " It's all your fault!"

" Kill it, kill it, Ah!" Sakura screamed. " It's under the sofa!"

" Get it out from there!" Syaoran clung tightly to Yue.

" Guys, it's just a cake!" Touya moved over to the sofa, while Sakura squeaked and ducked behind Yue along with Syaoran. The older boy moved the sofa, revealing a very dusty cake wiggling on the floor, along with candy wrappers and bits of sunflower and pumpkin seeds. " Ugh, we should have cleaned under the sofas more."

" Step on it!"

" I'm not going to do that!" Touya cried. " What are you, crazy?" He headed into the kitchen and fetched out the smallest cutting board and slammed it down on the cake.

The cake flattened, as expected, but the bits merely started moving independently since Syaoran and Sakura never gave it a rule that it would die unless it was whole.

This time, Tomoyo joined in the squeaking, as the frosting and bits of bread moved all across the room.

" You've just demonstrated asexual reproduction." Chul commented flatly.

" Holy snap," Touya responded, " How _do _you kill this thing?"

" Electricute it, Syaoran-san!" Yamazaki yelled. " Hurry up and blast it!"

Syaoran covered his head with the back of his hands and blasted. Scorched, the bits of cake he reached stilled. Encouraged, the thunderspeaker blasted the remaining bits.

Eriol started laughing, hard. Sakura muttered under her breath as she used the Erase Card to clean everything up. Chul helped Touya move the sofa back to its original place after Syaoran helped sweep up the wrappers and other junk that had collected under it.

" That was bloody brilliant," Eriol declared, " You definitely did not fail to deliver, my kawaii little descendant."

" That was the freakiest thing I've ever witnessed." Touya responded. " You folks are all weirdos."

" That was awesome!" Syaoran told Yamazaki. " Let's try that again! Can we make a gingerbread man instead?"

" Please don't?" Yue pleaded.

" Didn't you guys have enough for one day?" Kero asked. " Weren't you creeped out earlier?"

" Of course not. I was not a bit scared!" Syaoran replied confidently. " You weren't scared, were you, Sakura?"

" Hehe," Sakura laughed awkwardly.

" Nice try. I should have taken a picture of you hiding behind Yue." Chul folded his arms.

" I never hid behind Yue." Syaoran grinned smugly at him. Chul rolled his eyes. " This time though, we can go to the aesthetics."

" I'll have to hand it to you." Eriol moved forward to help them. " It took a lot of power to animate that thing. Your powers have grown, my kawaii little descendant."

" That's not my name!" Syaoran smacked Eriol's arm. " But come on! Let's go make something that makes more sense." The three children and Eriol headed upstairs to plan.

" You look really spooked, Yue-san." Touya noted.

" I am not spooked at all."

" Sure."

" Hey, it's not like Clow Reed _really _made us out of something as dumb as cake. We would have looked _so _ugly." Nakuru grimaced. " Though I've got to hand it to those kids. They're very creative."

" Hn!" Yue uttered.

" Aw, it's okay, Yue," Kero swirled around in the air, " Just kids experimenting with magic. Nothing overly wrong with that. And they were under our supervision too. See, they didn't even break anything. And you know as well as I do we both look a whole lot cooler than that lump of frosting."

" Hey, if it works on cake, maybe I can do it to this trick." Syaoran interrupted their thoughts from upstairs.

" That's my pillow..."

" Not anymore." Eriol was laughing.

" I didn't know lightning can change its shape so drastically." Yamazaki remarked.

" Who said it was lightning? It's a trick Ichiro taught me. That's sorcery, not elemental."

" I see."

" What on earth _is_ that?"

" Looks like a hot pink chicken."

" That's the fattest chicken I've ever seen."

" It's a chick, not a chicken."

" Tiniest wings ever."

" You're going to animate that?"

" Hai! For Yue!"

Touya turned to Yue with a big grin. " Your horrified expression must have inspired him."

" I was not horrified." Even as he said this, Yue's face adopted one of anxiety.

" Why Yue?"

" It's a chicken!"

" Are you calling Yue a chicken?"

" Iie, but they both have feathers."

" What about Kero-chan?"

" He's already a stuffed animal."

" Hey," Kero circled to the stairs. " I resent that."

" Kids." Touya commented. " Hey Chul-san, how good are you at economics?"

" Awful."

" Good. Mind heading down to the basement to help me with my assignment?"

" Sure, if you're willing to risk my help."

" How is Japan?" Nakuru asked Yue.

" Same as always."

" You have troops in Iraq now?"

" Apparently so."

" Watch as the war goes on for a few months. Japan will pull out, you'll see."

" I know." Yue looked upstairs.

" Since when do we care about politics?" Spinel rolled his eyes. " I heard Fujitaka had a load of ancient books downstairs in the basement."

" Make yourself comfortable, then."

" Hey!" Syaoran commented upstairs. " This was even easier than the cake!"

" Oh dear." Nakuru raised her eyebrows.

A thundering of footsteps later, Syaoran and Sakura proudly presented their pink chicken to Yue, who only stared, dumbfounded.

" It chirps!" Syaoran told Yue.

" Chirp chirp chirp!" The fat thing responded.

" It can sing for you!" Sakura added.

" Chirp chirp! Tweet!"

" Hey, maybe we can make it lay eggs...so Yue could eat them...and then get high cholesterol."

" That's just barbaric." Eriol opined.

" Isn't it cute though?" Syaoran asked. " And if we make it lay eggs Yue doesn't have to eat them if he doesn't want to. But then he'd be surrounded by a million of these things."

" I cannot possibly take that into Yukito's dorm."

" Of course you can! You can say it's a robotic chicken! Kind of like that robotic dog Korea made before. Which sucks, but still!"

" And if you want you can paint the eggs," Sakura agreed. " Maybe we can determine the color by the eggshell. Otherwise everything in Yukito-san's room will be pink and that gets a little boring after a while."

" Come on!" Syaoran shoved the thing into Yue's hands.

" Tweet!" The thing stared stupidly at Yue's chest. Then, as it had no neck, or head, in fact, its whole body rotated so its beak snapped onto Yue's robes and it tugged, flapping its ridiculously small wings.

" Careful." Syaoran warned. " The rest of it's soft and fluffy, but that beak's made of plastic."

" How did you make it chirp?" Yue asked as he tried to free his robes.

" Sakura's Voice card." Syaoran grinned. " I can't do everything, after all."

" You can change its chirp later on, we'll figure it out." Sakura added. The two of them then grinned devilishly at Yue.

Touya poked his head out of the basement. " Did one of the birds fall through the chimney or something?"

" Iie, it's this monstrous creation the children came up with." Eriol replied.

" It's not monstrous!" Sakura objected. " It's kawaii!"

" What the hell is that thing?" Chul poked his head out behind Touya.

" It's Yue's pet!"

" Hey!" Nakuru sniffed. " How come I don't get a pet?"

" You can get a caterpillar, if you really want to." Syaoran told her.

" You are more than welcome to take this." Yue held the chicken out.

" Iie! The chicken belongs to Yue. Nakuru can get the caterpillar."

" But I want the chicken!"

" The caterpillar can evolve."

" Did you even make one?" Nakuru cocked an eyebrow.

" Iie, but we will." Sakura smiled. " Come on, Nakuru-san, Eriol-kun, we can go upstairs and design one for you."

" Well, if you put it that way, and I get to choose," Nakuru went upstairs. Touya and Chul stared in amusement at the little being for a while, before heading back down to continue the assignment.

Yue eyed the thing suspiciously and glanced at Syaoran, not sure how he should feel about this. He was not sure if he should say what he was thinking, as that may or may not hurt Syaoran's feelings

Fortunately, the thunderspeaker deigned to spare Yue the decision.

" Don't worry." He assured the guardian. " It's not going to stay as ridiculous as it is. Wouldn't do for your prestige, after all."

Yue cocked an eyebrow.

" Hey, if I helped create a phoenix for the firespeakers," Syaoran stuck his nose in the air deliberately, before turning to Yue with a coy grin. His smile saddened a little. " We all have a reprieve, you know." He said. " Once we get tired of living as we do. We don't die but…"

Yue recalled how they desperately fought to persuade Syaoran to return to them. Syaoran knew what awaited in the clouds, as an elemental.

" You don't have that." Syaoran glanced down at the plastic hatchling. " So, I figured, we both care about Sakura. It is something that will connect us."

" Not the only thing." Yue reminded him, but his throat felt tight as he said it.

" Well, yeah." Syaoran shrugged. " But when I'm up there, I see everything, but I don't actually _see, _or hear, you know? And you had to wait thousands of years for Sakura and Eriol to come along. Granted, last time you were in a book, but I doubt you'd go back there again. So this is my telephone number." He pointed at the bird, which chirped happily. " Send it up. It wouldn't die. And it's smarter than it looks at the moment."

Yue glanced down at the bird and then pulled Syaoran into a hug, understanding the significance of the gift and deeply believing that he would treasure the thing just as much if it was actually doomed to forever have pink fluff and a plastic beak and a waddle.

" We'll have lots of interesting conversations." Syaoran giggled into his shoulder. Yue let him go.

" Hai." Yue nodded, as footsteps from the basement echoed while everyone headed up.

" Let's go out!" Sakura called brightly.

" Where?" Yamazaki asked.

" Who cares?" Sakura put on her rollerblades.

" Aw, come on," Syaoran laughed, " You'll be charging ahead of us."

" I'll wait!"

" Let's steal Touya's bicycle." Yamazaki suggested to Syaoran.

" Iie, I'm using my bicycle." Touya grinned. " And the kaijuu can't hitch a ride."

" You can go slow?" Tomoyo asked.

" Sure."

" Come on!" Syaoran grinned. " Chul?"

Chul rolled his eyes. " I just realized what I got myself into."

Syaoran laughed and bounced off with Yamazaki. " Come on Yue! It'll be fun!"

The bird chirped. Yue glanced down.

" You can leave that here for now," Sakura suggested, " That way it won't get trampled or something."

" Alright." Yue agreed, setting the thing down. The chick waddled away.

Touya had the door open and Sakura headed outside. Everyone else was putting on their shoes.

" Let's go!" Syaoran laughed brightly, and the group closed the door behind them to head out into a beautiful afternoon.


End file.
